Social Media

As marketers, we have heard so much about how social media allows us to rapidly build our brand, get the word out regarding our products and services, target different demographics, and optimize consumer engagement. Yet we need to take social marketing to the next level.

Thus, I pose the question: Is your company simply using social media channels to create an online marketing presence, or is it creating social media conversations with your customers?

For example, as a professor at Full Sail University, my students are my customers. I use many different social media channels to get each student to “buy into” my courses. I develop student engagement, but then I also intentionally develop a professional relationship with each individual student. By doing so, each student gains a sense of personal investment in my courses.

Here are my five tips for creating social media conversations with your customers:

1. Your attention, please! Gaining our customer’s attention is pretty simple for us marketers. It is something that we have been doing since before the days of social media. Thus, continue to bring attention to your brand and develop your brand story through your social media channels.

2. Get your customers to opt in. Remember, everyone loves a good story. Therefore, the better your brand tells your business story, the more customers you will get to opt in. Once you have an engaged consumer, it is imperative that you learn what attracted him/her to your business. Traditional marketing methods of gathering metrics on your customers remain important. And with social media, you can discover why a customer is choosing you.

3. Determine your customers’ individuality. Find unique ways to get your customers to tell you how they found you. What about your customers makes them choose you? How are you fulfilling their unique wants and needs? What incentives do you provide to keep your customers engaged?

4. Focus on conversation. Typically, businesses will ask customers a series of questions through the use of impersonal surveys, questionnaires, or cold calls. At this point, many marketers usually stop. With social media, you cannot stop here. You must follow through and build a personal conversation by leveraging social media in new and unique ways. So what are we to do?

5. Develop interaction. Through the use of social media interaction, periodically make intentional contact with your customers. Remember to treat your customer as you would a good friend. We do things for our friends because we care about them; thus, demonstrate to your customers who connect with you through social media that you care about them. Communicate with them. Give them the service they deserve: prompt responses, incentives, and other cool offers. You will receive in return the continued trust and loyalty you need and desire to grow your business.

C.C. shared his unique perspectives on writing great content, creative thinking, and how to consult for high-profile clients such as the Discovery Channel where he helped develop a fascinating campaign to market the show, “Shark Week.” He also talked about his book, “Content Rules” that discusses Killer blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, and Webinars. It also talks about how to better engage your customers to truly add that human connection. C.C. was kind enough to blog about his experience in visiting our university entitled, “The Full Sail Experience.”

Since the event venue was only able to hold up to 150 people, we also had a live stream of the event. The live stream peaked at about 300 viewers making this event one of our most successful. Please watch the LIVE STREAM here!

In a sluggish economy, can you really afford to be humble? Some may say that self-pride and aggressively pushing your agenda is the answer to survival in times like these. I want to provide a different perspective, and I would like to put my alternative idea to the test, humble marketing.

What is humble marketing? I would define it as unwavering belief in your individual opinion, yet remembering that you are human. Humans make mistakes, incorrect assumptions, and fail all the time. For example, is Seth Godin humble? I believe he is. He strongly believes in his contributions to marketing, but he is human. He admits his mistakes and learns from them, and thus has become one of the most well-known, current marketers. In addition, he has, in effect, build sustainability and credibility into his life by being unpretentious yet responsible.

I believe that humility is what drives forward movement in marketing. Humble marketing opens our minds to new ideas, differing opinions, and removes the “my way or the highway” mentality that often stifles creativity. Also, it opens many avenues of knowledge and growth both personally and on the corporate level. Admitting not only our faults and weaknesses but also our strengths and successes helps foster life-long learning. Continuous learning breeds wisdom, self-esteem, and success. How humble are you willing to be regarding your marketing?

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Meet the Author

I am a professor of Marketing at Full Sail University in the Digital Marketing degree. I teach a wide range of classes in mobile and emerging technology marketing, storytelling, content marketing strategy, new media distribution channels, and personal branding. I also currently serve as a LinkedIn Advisor and as a Past-President of the American Marketing Association of Orlando. My interests are in music, film, television, and art.

Contact Ken for speaking engagements at 415-891-7702.

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